A Call for Developing Islamic Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign!
Islamic Studies is as an area of scholarly inquiry within our nation’s academic institutions as nascent as it is vital. World events during the past decade underscore the imperative need for Islam to be studied in a context that is as interdisciplinary and global as Islam itself. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has an opportunity and a responsibility to be at the forefront of filling this area of academia. Doing so will require attention and resources.
The complexity of Islam, the Islamic tradition, and the impact of its 1.4 billion followers through every aspect of global society necessitates scholarship that is interdisciplinary, cross-national, and comparative. Academia within the United States suffers from a shortage of classes on all aspects of Islam. There are 4,186 institutions within the United States; of these schools, there are only fourteen institutions that have firmly established Islamic Studies programs. Four additional institutions are in the developing stages, actively searching for the funding and faculty to expand the breadth of their programs.
While the University of Illinois does offer a basic core of courses on Islam and has one full time faculty member devoted to Islamic studies, there is a great need for additional courses. Depending on faculty expertise, courses have the potential to span anthropology, history, economics, art history, women studies, political science, and comparative literature disciplines, to collaborate with the Program in Jewish Culture and Society, and to address the complexities of contemporary issues.
In no way should this request for attention towards developing Islamic Studies be misinterpreted as a call for solely congratulatory works. The absence of critical inquiry constitutes the absence of honest scholarly inquiry entirely. We best serve as an academic institution when we are able to explore the tensions that face our world with open dialogue, rigorous study, and intense debate: one of the most exigent tasks of our day is to understand and advance the objective study of the Islamic world, its religious beliefs, social and moral values, cultural traditions, and contemporary challenges and opportunities.
The University of Illinois has the opportunity to lead as an imperative and exciting vehicle toward promoting and understanding Islam in an interdisciplinary and scholarly light.
Devoting University of Illinois’ attention and resources towards Islamic Studies is an urgent need, especially when brought under the light of the current global sociopolitical upheavals. Upon our own campus, the Muslim community has recently undergone hate crimes and continues to face serious issues of Islamaphobia. Understanding, tolerance, and co-operation spearheaded by the scholarly inquiries of our world class institution are essential conditions for breaking down the barriers of misconception and discrimination, and advancing the welfare of all peoples.
Please sign this petition to contact the university Provost and Dean and urge them to advocate the development of an Islamic Studies Program!
PETITION:
We, the undersigned, call for the University of Illinois to divert attention and resources towards the development of Islamic Studies at the U of I Urbana-Champaign that amounts to the objective study of the Islamic world, its religious beliefs, social and moral values, cultural traditions, and contemporary challenges and opportunities in a context that is interdisciplinary, cross-national, and comparative.
Such a program would require a long-term commitment on a number of levels, including but not limited to, planning the development of:
- Islamic studies program coordinating related work across departments.
- Excellence hires, including senior professorships
- Enhancing and strengthening faculty professional development in their respective specialties through research and teaching
- Inviting international scholars with expertise in Islamic Studies to visit and work at the University of Illinois, encouraging faculty and student exchanges, and promoting affiliation agreements with universities
- Developing more courses of study in Islamic Studies at the undergraduate and graduate level.
- Inviting undergraduates from all UIUC colleges to participate in the University’s courses
on Islamic Studies
- Undergraduate program; degree
- Graduate program; degree
- Digitization and translation of Islamic texts
- Planning and supporting seminars, workshops and conferences
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